1.1 Definition and presentation

A wine bar is a theme bar focused on oenology. Clients generally have the opportunity to discover some original wines which are not often available for drinking and which are not found in the usual distribution channels.

The global market is stable. There are low barriers to entry, however revenue volatility also remains somewhat low as wine is a non-cyclical drink.

In the UK, the sector has experienced a period of growth for the period between 2014 to 2021 as wine consumption has risen. On top of this, the domestic production in the UK has gained traction over the last couple of years, which increases interest and demand for this type of wine enjoyed in wine bars.

The Wine Bar market is highly fragmented and characterized by a majority of independent players. This makes differentiation key to succeed in this industry.

Wine bars will continue to grow in popularity. The success of the sector in general, is highly dependent on consumer purchasing power and per capita incomes.

1.2 Global Market

The wine global market was worth US$ ***.* billion in ****, a **% decrease from ****. [***] This decline is mainly related to the health crisis and the trend before the crisis was upward. The turnover in **** was US$ ***.** billion, with a strong increase of **% compared to ****. The global market is expected to grow again to ...

1.3 UK Market

The Wine Bars industry has recorded mixed conditions over the past five years, with revenue increasing strongly over most of the period, but plunging during COVID-** (***)-related lockdowns.

The market size, measured by revenue, of the Wine Bars industry is £***.*m in ****. The market size of the Wine Bars industry in ...

1.4 Foreign trade of wine

The UN Comtrade database allows us to analyse the foreign wine trade in the UK.

Analysing wine imports and exports shows that Britain is a wine importing country, importing far more wine than it exports. In fact, the trade balance is always largely negative, generating a constant trade deficit.

Specifically, in ...

1.5 Covid Impact

The covid hit the UK wine bar sector hard; in fact, due to the lockdown all bars were closed for a period of time and even when they reopened they had to suffer restrictions in terms of hours and number of people allowed in.

This is reflected in the industry's numbers ...

2.1 Wine Consumption

In ****, wine consumption amounted to **.* million hectoliters. For the past fifteen years the volume cleared for consumption has mostly been stable. For the entire period under consideration volumes have been over **.* million hectoliters.The data includes both, wine produced in the UK and wine imported from other countries. Wine drinkers in ...

2.2 Wine Drinkers

The number of regular wine drinkers in the UK is declining, falling by * million in the past five years to ** million regular wine drinkers. **% of adults are now regular wine drinkers, compared with **% of adults being wine drinkers in ****.

Number of wine drinkers in UK UK, ****-****, in millions Source: ****

Within ...

2.3 Segmentation of wine drinkers

It is interesting to analyze Wine Intelligence' s research that segmented wine drinkers in UK into * categories based on different factors (***)

Adventurous Explorers: Mid-aged and older confident wine drinkers for whom wine is an important part of their lifestyle, who enjoy discovering new wine. A larger segment than in previous years, ...

2.4 Consumer trends

Wine experienced a short-term volume boost in the UK, and although the category will adjust downwards, IWSR market data shows that **** was the first year to see still wine volume growth after more than a decade in decline. There is some evidence that younger legal drinking age (***) wine drinkers are returning ...

2.5 Most popupalar wines in the UK

These are the most popular wine brands in the UK, according to recent approval ratings gathered by YouGov.

While cheap and cheerful Australian and American brands do particularly well, Champagne, at least for special occasions, is also a favourite for the average drinker in the UK. What is especially clear is ...

3.1 Market Structure

The Wine Bars industry in the UK is labor intensive which means businesses are more reliant on labor than capital. The highest costs for business in The Wine Bars industry in the UK as a percentage of revenue are Wages (***).

The Wine Bars industry in the UK has low market share ...

3.2 Cost and Profitability of wine bars in uk

Based on the data from the BinWise portal, we can estimate the average cost of opening a wine bar in the UK and the profit margins, net and gross, that can be made.

How Much Does Opening a Bar Cost?

The average cost of opening a bar is $***,***. The average cost ...

3.2 Value Chain

The value chain and the functioning of the wine market and production and distribution in UK are summarised below. As wine bars are among the distribution outlets of this larger market, their specific value chain is given below:

3.4 Wine bars suppliers: Wine Wholesalers in the UK

Below is an illustrative review of the major UK wine wholesalers.

Appellation Wines

Appellation Wines was opened in Dalry in November **** by Ashton, with the underlying philosophy of stocking wines that cannot be found elsewhere. They champion the smaller producer and the lesser-known wine regions. In January **** they opened their second ...

3.5 Wine Production

This statistic shows the total production volume of wine in the United Kingdom annually from **** to ****. In ****, approximately **,*** hectoliters of wine were produced in the UK. This marked a slight increase from the output of the previous year when around **,*** hectoliters were produced. It is also noticeable that the volume of ...

4.1 Different types of wine

Below we have provided an illustration of the main categories of wine found in the UK. Within these categories fall the vast majority of wines sold in the UK.

Red wines are made from black grapes fermented with the grape skins (***), seeds, and stems. Red wine is high in tannins, which ...

4.2 Price Analysis

Below we have provided an illustration of the prices of the main wine categories in * major UK wine bar chains. We have referred to prices for a glass of wine (***).

4.3 Leading wine brands by sales revenue in the UK

As of ****, the leading brand of wines by sales in the United Kingdom was Hardys. Hardys generated just over *** million British pounds in the sale of wine that year. The leading competitor, I Heart, had earned approximately **.* million British pounds in wine sales.

Leading wine brands by sales revenue in the ...

4.4 Supply trends: Innovation

In the UK wine industry, more and more companies are being formed that focus on product and process innovations in order to achieve higher quality, more sustainable products more quickly.

One UK business which embodies much of this thinking and is literally repackaging how we drink and think about wine is Defy, ...

5.1 Regulations

In England and Wales, the Licensing Act **** is the legislation used to license premises in their sale of alcohol. It forms the backbone of UK alcohol laws and sets the laws that any business selling alcohol must follow, including which licenses they need to apply for and what they must do ...